


The Goblin Emperor's Heir

by malachibi



Category: The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 07:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17076254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malachibi/pseuds/malachibi
Summary: Maia has his cousins over for breakfast, and talks of marriage to his nephew.





	The Goblin Emperor's Heir

**Author's Note:**

  * For [coslyons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coslyons/gifts).



> For coslyons! Prompt was for more of Maia and Idra's family relationship.

Maia wakes to warm fingers touching his shoulder, and opens his eyes to find Cala standing at his bedside. 

"Our apologies for waking you, Serenity, but your cousins will be awaiting you in a half-hour," Cala tells him, and Maia's quick to rise and summon his edocharei. 

Breakfast with his cousins is one of the highlights of his week, along with the dinners he still has with Arbelan Zhasanai and the long lunches he steals whenever he can with his Empress. 

His edocharei have him bathed and dressed in time to enter the room he usually breakfasts in just before his cousins are due to arrive, and he settles himself at the table even knowing he'll have to rise to accept hugs in a few moments. 

It's Csevet who opens the door and lets them in, and though Idra moves gracefully into the room and bows before proceeding, Ino has no such compunctions. 

"Cousin Maia! I missed thee," she announces, barrelling across the room to hug him. "Why didn't we have breakfast last week?" she demands. 

"I _told_ thee, Ino," Idra reminds her, the very picture of an exasperated brother. 

She thinks about that for a moment, and then shrugs. "I forgot."

"I remember!" Mireän announces happily, bouncing a little in place. "Cousin Maia had a trade delegation from the Great Avar and it was really important so he had to not have breakfast."

"That's right," Maia agrees, smiling at her. "But today we can have breakfast."

She smiles as brightly as her sister does in response, and all three of his brother's children take their seats at his table just in time for Isheian to appear with the first of the breakfast dishes. 

As usual, the girls end up too distracted by the food to talk much over breakfast itself, but they eat quickly and Maia attempts to match their pace so that he'll have less interruptions once they are ready to talk. 

Idra, of course, has long since mastered the art of eating during a conversation, but Maia prefers not to have to attempt using that skill unless he has to. 

With his cousins, thankfully, there's no need. 

There's also little need to carry the conversation himself, since Mireän and Ino are still of an age to blurt out whatever they're thinking, and Idra's happy enough to fill in the gaps with polite chatter about the latest goings-on of the court. 

Between his father's widow, his Lord Chancellor, his secretary, and his wife, he's much less confused about the court than he was as a newly-crowned Emperor, but he still appreciates staying on top of the latest gossip. 

Once the clock strikes the hour, Mireän jumps to her feet, looking to the door. 

"Time for us to go?" she asks, looking at Idra. 

"Sayeth the same thing every week," Idra laughs. "Yes, it's time for thee and Ino to go to thy tutors."

"Bye Cousin Maia!" Ino cries, giving him another tight hug. Mireän's a little shyer about asking, but sidles over to him in the way he's come to understand is her way of asking, and so he gives her a hug as well. 

They're met at the door by Leilis Athmaza, who shares a smile with both Maia and Idra before escorting the girls down the hall. 

He doesn't tutor the girls himself, but he was the one who arranged for their tutors when the need arose, and once he's done bringing them to their classroom, he'll be back to pick up Idra for his own tutoring session. 

"Thou wilt reach thy majority in less than a year now," Maia notes, thinking back to the birthday party he'd overseen a little over a month ago. 

"Yes, cousin," Idra agrees, sitting up straight. 

The conversation has moved from cousinly chatter to an Emperor speaking to his heir with nothing more than an innocent question, Maia can see, and he sighs inwardly.

"It is my hope that thou wilt be displaced soon and be free to pursue what thy wishst to pursue," Maia comments, keeping his voice light and his words in familiar-first, hoping to make his nephew relax. "Until then, thou art my heir, and wilt be declared as so formally on thy birthday."

Idra inclines his head, though Maia can read the puzzlement in his eyes. 

"I once asked my sister Vedero what she would do, if she was not to be married," Maia continues. "I would ask the same of thee, if I were to produce an heir of my own."

"Cousin Vedero has impressed upon me, as she has no doubt impressed upon thee, the need to use thy relatives to make alliances," Idra points out. 

"So if I told thee I was in talks to marry Mireän off as soon as she comes of age?" Maia questions. 

Even Idra's best courtly manners can't stop him from making an outraged expression, though court training means the expression lasts for barely a second. 

"It's different when it's thy sister, is it not?" Maia asks, more softly. "I did not wish to marry as early as I did, though Csethiro and I work well together. I do not wish for my sister to have to marry before she's ready to, and if I can, I want her to have a say in her future husband. Even if that means giving up an alliance."

Idra nods, a little cautiously. "So thou'rt not marrying off Miree?"

"Not for a while, at least," Maia agrees, and sighs. "Though, by letting her and my sister be for now, I find my attention turning towards the marriage prospects of another relative."

He can see Idra's mind working through the possibilities, and then the sudden determination in his nephew's eyes. 

"I will marry whoever thou needst me to," he declares, and Maia shakes his head quickly. 

"No, cousin, I would not ask it of thee. I am just… considering possibilities, and when thou art of age and when I have a child, it's thy marriage I must worry about, more than thy sisters'."

"Because there are still people who think I should be Emperor?" Idra wonders. 

Maia nods. "Yes, among other reasons. Thy mother told thee that too many sons confuses the succession, and the same is true for cousins. Thou needst a good marriage, but one that will keep thee from the throne in all but the most dire situations."

Idra considers this, and nods. "Thou hast someone in mind already," he guesses. 

"It is thy right to choose," Maia stresses, "but if thou knowst that, I wilt tell thee."

"I know that thou wilt not force me to marry, yes," Idra says, a little impatiently. "Whom didst thou have in mind?"

"Dach'osmin Paru Tethimin," Maia says, and Csevet and Cala both turn to look at him with identical surprised looks. 

"She was being considered for thine Empress," Idra notes. 

"She was fourteen, and not at all suited for the role," Maia counters. "Now her husband stands to inherit the Tethimada family, and I will need someone I can trust to be that husband. It also would give thee a more than respectable position, while removing thee from court."

"And sayest thou doth not understand the court," Idra replies with the barest hint of a smile. "Very well, cousin, I will consider her."

"By the time thy birthday comes, I expect thy list of women to consider will have grown very large," Maia says with a laugh. "But I know thou wilt not choose rashly."

A tap on the door indicates that Leilis has returned, and Idra stands. "I will see thee on our walk tomorrow?" he checks, and Maia nods. 

With that, his nephew and heir is gone, and Maia allows himself a few minutes to sit and contemplate things before he has to get to work. 

_If thy child is anything like thy nephew, thou shalt be lucky indeed,_ he thinks to himself, and smiles. 

\--


End file.
